Winter Events!

[soulsword]

Who; Illyana + Open
What; Event stuff
Where; Streets+Buildings+Wherever
When; Throughout the Month
Warnings; TBA

A. I Know The Secrets That You Keep

Illyana hadn't stopped thinking about what that little thing had said on the tellphone since it had happened. The fact that it had mentioned souls wasn't lost on her and she was...less than happy about it. Not that she had told anyone. No, of course in typical Illyana fashion she had, instead, chosen to avoid people entirely since it had happened on the 9th. Anyone that might have been used to having her drop by to bother them would find she was distinctly (perhaps blissfully) giving them space. Yeah, that was it, she was granting them space. It wasn't because she was desperately trying to find where those voices had come from. It definitely wasn't becasue the idea of something threatening her soul bothered her.

Nope.

Definitely not.

Tonight, like many nights before, she wandered the streets hoping to find some clue or something that might lead her to those voices. As she walked one lamp went out above her. She looked up, scrunched her face up.

"Looks like city maintenance could use some work," she said aloud to nobody in particular. Then, as if on cue, all of the lamps started going out one by one. Then there was the hot breath, something whispered, and Illyana....laughing. Well, that was a weird reaction, wasn't it? She pulled a glowing sword from her chest for light in place of the burnt out lamps and announced:

"You'll have to find a better secret than that."

B. Mechanical Fighting

[ Another evening, another bit of wandering, this time Illyana finds herself cornered in a side street with a basket of rather unique items (candles, chalk, herbs, the things you might think of for a ritual)by some rather strange creatures. She lowers her gaze to them and then sighs. It's an exasperated sigh, one from someone that just doesn't want to deal with it. ]

Gonna summon some eldritch terror or are you plotting to magic a special dagger again? One chants out

She'd need an innocent soul first! I bet she knows just the one

[ Oh, well, that was not the thing to say. Her eyes further narrow and she places the basket down, reaching into her chest to pull out the soulsword. ]

Wanna say that again you little mechanical imps?

[ ooc: will match prose or brackets, your choice! ]

Comments

[ask_whydunit]

“You’re not the first person to suggest that.” Waver responded with a resigned sigh, practically rehearsed at this point. “I’m just slightly practiced at making connections and coming up with decent theories based on information available to me, thanks to the number of weird situations I get asked to untangle. I could hardly operate on the same level as him if he existed.” He ended with a roll of his eyes. If Sherlock Holmes were real, he was quite sure the man would find such a comparison ridiculous and insulting. That said, it could not be denied that Waver had a certain way of looking at things and a burning desire to figure things out and uncover secrets that definitely fit the role. There were plenty of parallels despite his denial.

There was something so absurd about the absolute contrast between the gravity of the conversation and the teasing… And yet also comforting in its own way to feel like not everything was crashing down around him to have admitted so much out loud. He still hated that he had, and he knows regardless of her tone and attempt at looking unhurt or not upset by it all that she was… But it was better than one of them storming off, as tempting as it probably was for both parties at this point.

But Waver visibly winced as Illyana tried to fill in the blanks when he fell silent, looking like she’d as good as struck him even if it was only with her words alone. It was very rare that someone actually called him out like this, and he clearly didn’t know what to do with it. And if this time he didn’t pull through, didn’t wake up, didn’t recover enough to step in just in time to either offer guidance or provide support… What would become of everyone else? What would they do? That wasn’t even counting what would become of Reines… Part of their deal was that he would be the decoy until she was older, take the attention of other mages off her and direct it onto him. Didn’t mean he had any idea what else he could have done about what happened, but it did… put a lot into perspective.

Looking pale and more than a little lost, he can’t even think of a proper argument or defence that hasn’t already been said. He still wouldn’t have done differently given the situation, and they both knew it… But he did see the point she was trying to make.

Under normal circumstances, Waver would have actually been satisfied to have the tables turned when it came to which of them were annoyed. That said, tonight was not a normal situation at all. They were both uncomfortable and very done with the ghosts and their insistent prodding over things they didn’t want to admit or speak of to the world. So, picking up the stone that had rolled up against his shoe to look over more closely later, he straightened and gave her his proper attention. He had to admit, he hadn’t expected to hear that of all things. A brow raised slightly, his tone still careful given everything else. “You say that like it’s an unreasonable, foolish thing to want.” It wasn’t even the first time he’d heard someone around here wanting to stay in the place. And given everything else… It made sense. “But it’s not, you know. If you like it here, if you feel like you have a place…” She deserved that. “Then I think it’s understandable that you’d want to.” Hell, under the right circumstances? Waver might not mind staying either… But those were very specific circumstances, dependant on very specific people in his life.

[soulsword]

“But I bet I'm the best one to suggest it," she said with a smirk. A very over confident and self-gratifying one. ""Just slightly practiced, of course. You know, he probably exists somewhere." If this world plus the other worlds and times she'd been to had taught her anything at all it was that everyone probably existed somewhere. Someone's fiction or whatever was real in some universe out there. Probably multiple versions actually.

In some ways he should probably feel honored, Illyana rarely bothered to call people out or put in the effort to point things out to them. It was only when she actually cared, or at the very least wanted something out of the situation, that she put in the effort to be blunt and direct. In this instance it was decidedly that she cared and she wanted him to know how ridiculous he was being. Not just that she cared of course, she had a vested interest in dissuading people from making stupid statements and decisions that reminded her of her self-sacrificing brother.


"I'll take your silence to mean my point was made and accepted as correct." She narrowed her eyes at what he chose to say next. "Because it is." It was foolish, sentimental, selfish, and also weak. Definitely weak. "I don't really have a place here. Not really. I don't belong places." I'm not even meant to be.

[ask_whydunit]

That gets an obvious eye-roll. “You would say that…” Even if he’s not quite recovered from the elephant in the room, that was… the rest of the conversation… The subject of Sherlock Holmes and the tendency for people to compare them was practically a relief by comparison. Frankly, Miss Adashino also got on his nerves, but Illyana was definitely the champion at this point, and maybe… A little higher on the scale of people he ‘tolerated’ (considered a friend) in his day to day. If only because he’d been here long enough now that she’d been around him longer. That was all… Yup. The suggestion gets a rise of his brows, and… Well, he can’t argue with that. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that… But you could be right?” That was a weird thought…

Weirder still that technically he did exist in at least one alternate universe of Waver’s own world, who was actually interested in the opportunity to speak with the mage.

Waver opened his mouth to argue her next point, because of course he would on instinct… But yeah, the fight’s half-hearted at best and his mouth slipped shut again with an awkward shrug. “Fine, you’ve made your point.” He won’t openly say she’s right. Waver would admit to mostly right at best, because he doesn’t quite know how to articulate that he also couldn’t do nothing and to say he wouldn’t make the same stupid decision again would be a lie. At least… Maybe he wouldn’t make it without stopping and thinking first, trying other things…

But he’d rather focus on her secret, especially when she spoke next. “You really think that?” He asked with a small rise of his brow at her. “Because in my experience, people who don’t have places, who don’t belong somewhere? They don’t have people who notice when they’re missing. Who give a damn when they don’t know where you went or what might’ve happened.”